Fighters punch out Eagles

SAPPORO – Yoshio Itoi homered twice and Sho Nakata also went deep as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 7-0 in the Pacific League on Friday.

Brian Wolfe (6-7) allowed two hits and three walks in 6⅓ innings to get the win, and three relievers completed the three-hit shutout at Sapporo Dome.

Yang Dai-kang, whose RBI groundout in the second opened the scoring, had an RBI double in the Fighters’ three-run fourth. Itoi and Nakata turned it into a rout when they opened the eighth inning with back-to-back homers.

Former Marine Naotaka Takehara hit a solo shot in the fourth, and Scales drew a two-out walk in the fifth and scored on Goto’s fourth homer of the year. Hayato Terahara (6-6) allowed a run in 6⅔ innings to earn the win.

Lions 3, Hawks 2

At Yahoo Dome, Seibu scored twice in the first inning as a result of three straight hits and a wild pitch, and hung on to beat Fukuoka Softbank behind right-hander Ryoma Nogami (4-3), who allowed a run in six innings.

Hawks starter Shota Oba (2-5) retired just one of the five batters he faced before leaving the mound.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Carp 4, Tigers 3

At Mazda Stadium, Brad Eldred’s two-out RBI double tied it in the bottom of the eighth and Shota Dobayashi followed with an RBI single as Hiroshima overcame a three-run deficit to beat Hanshin.

Dennis Sarfate (1-4) survived a jam in the eighth to keep it close, and the Carp, who were outhit 12-6 got the big hits the Tigers couldn’t manage. Kam Mickolio, who replaced Sarfate as the Carp closer this spring, recorded his 12th save as Hiroshima moved back to .500.

Swallows 9, Dragons 2

At Jingu Stadium, Tokyo Yakult lefty Katsuki Akagawa (6-5) allowed six hits over the distance, and catcher Ryoji Aikawa belted a tie-breaking, three-run homer in the fourth as the Swallows beat Chunichi to win consecutive games for the first time since July 5.

Akagawa surrendered a run in the top of the first, but the Swallows tied it in the second on back-to-back doubles by former Dragon Ryosuke Morioka and Kazuki Fukuchi. Morioka went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored three runs against his former teammates.

Giants 4, BayStars 1

At Yokohama Stadium, Yomiuri’s Tetsuya Utsumi (10-6) allowed a run in 6⅓ innings, while scoring the Giants’ first run and driving in two more in a win over the BayStars.

Utsumi walked to open the fifth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tetsuya Matsumoto. The pitcher then gave himself some necessary breathing room with a two-run single in the sixth.